Gay Men Become Trans Women in Iran
Homosexual Iranians Choose Surgery Instead of Potential Execution
Iranian law forbids acts of homosexuality but acknowledges the malady of transsexuality. Iran's gays are choosing to turn to the operating table in hopes of acceptance.
If you were a homosexual Iranian, you would fear for your life should anyone find out. If you are transsexual however, life becomes a lot less complicated in a twisted way. Effeminate, homosexual Iranian men are electing to have sex change operations in order to fit into their culture in an acceptable way.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s current president, refuses to believe homosexuals exist within his country. “In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country,” he told a questioner [back in September] who accused his government of executing gay men. “In Iran we do not have this phenomenon, I don't know who has told you that we have it.” Evidently, Ahmadinejad readily executes “sodomites,” but does not link the act of sodomy to homosexuality.
Sexual Legality in Iran
As told by the Nobel peace prize-winning human rights lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, “There is one part [in Iranian law] for homosexuality in men, which is called lavat (sodomy), which is punishable by death. There is another for women, which is called mosahegheh. If the crime is committed up to three times, the penalty is 100 lashes. On the fourth, it is execution.” Other Iranian advocates point to such laws as evidence that despite Ahmadinejad’s stance, the Iranian government does, in fact, acknowledge that homosexuality exists.
While homosexuality is considered a moral sin in Iran, transsexuality is viewed as a medical malady. In fact, “Sex changes have been legal in Iran since Ayatollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa – a religious edict – authorising them for 'diagnosed transsexuals' 25 years ago,” according to the BBC.
Even more remarkable is that Iran is second only to Thailand in the amount of sex change operations performed each year, the government even providing financial assistance to those in need. Newsweek reports that there are about 150,000 Iranian transsexuals living in the country today, compared with 7-12,000 post-operative transsexuals in America.
Sexual Reality in Iran
Despite the fact that Iranian officials do not see a link between sex change operations and homosexuality, religious cleric Hojatol Islam Muhammad Mehdi Kariminia even going so far as to call them “fundamentally separate,” discussions with homosexual and transsexual Iranians prove a different story.
21 year old Anoosh (now called Anahita) elected to have a sex change operation because he was sick of the harassment he endured when out with his boyfriend. “When he goes out in female clothes and has a female appearance it is easier for me to persuade myself that he is a girl. It makes the relationship better,” he said on the BBC. As a man with female tendencies, Anoosh was seen as unnatural and dirty by his fellow Iranians. Going through with a sex change alters how outsiders view him – as a woman trapped in the wrong body rather than a morally corrupt homosexual.
This is not true for Iranian lesbians, however. In fact, Iranian women who display masculine qualities are seen as strong members of the community as opposed to their male counterparts who are shunned for effeminacy. According to 28 year old transsexual Amin on Truthout.com, “In Iran, a man who behaves like a woman is despised, looked down on. But a girl who behaves and dresses like a man is respected for her strong character.”
Law + Religion = Oppression
Iranian laws are so entwined with the religious that men like Anoosh must have written permission from local government officials in order to dress as the opposite sex in public, only after being officially diagnosed as transsexual. In many ways, sex changes have become a solution for homosexual men to legally be attracted to the sex they naturally desire, apart from the harassment, shame and punishment endured without a sex change.
“According to some transexuals, their legal status in Iranian society has prompted hundreds of gay Iranians to apply for permission for sex-changes, which, if granted, would allow them to continue their relationship without fear of arrest,” Truthout.com reported. Indeed, many of the post-surgery transsexuals in Iran that have been interviewed revealed that they would most likely have not gone through with the operation if they did not reside in the country.
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